Chapter 4

By the end of the third day the doctors decided to ween Nate off the sedatives, he however remained on the ventilator. He was still weak, and the doctor was not giving them any assurances that he was going to pull through. The two suites Hardison had secured for them were like fortresses, they had been easy to secure as they only had two entrances and exits, one the elevator and the other the stairs and both were secure. The doctor had now given them permission to sit with Nate in the room and so he was never left alone.

Finally in the late afternoon four days after he had been shot Nate woke. Parker was sitting with him at the time. She stood as she felt his hand move then saw his eyes open, they were filled with fear and confusion as he reached for the tube that was still down his throat.

"Nate…Nate it is ok, it is helping you to breathe." Parker said taking his hand in hers and holding onto it. "Nate, it is ok, please just relax." She said trying to soothe him. "You are in the hospital and the tube is helping you to breathe." She told him and then the doctor was at her side asking her to leave the room. She did as she was asked and took her place outside when one of the nurses also let the blinds drop.

"What happened?" Sophie asked as she exited the elevator having been told to get downstairs by Eliot who had been outside watching Parker.

"He woke up." Eliot said to her and then broke into a smile which she returned.

"He woke up?"

"Yeah Hardison he did." Eliot smiled and then was pulled into a hug by the Hacker.

"He woke up." Hardison breathed, that must be a good sign, that had to mean he was going to make it.

Ten minutes later the blinds were raised and the door to the room opened with the attending doctor stepping out to see them.

"Well Mr Ford as awoken and we have removed the ventilator. Now he is still very weak from the blood loss and the trauma and it will take a while for him to get back to full health, but I believe he will make a full recovery." He told them.

"Thank you doctor, thank you so much." Sophie said.

"It's a pleasure Mrs Ford." He smiled at her. "You can go in now."

They all thanked him again and then moved into Nate's room with Parker walking straight up to his bed and taking his hand.

"Parker…" Nate said his voice hoarse. "Are you ok?"

"Yes Nate, thanks to you." Parker said squeezing his hand.

"What happened?"

"You got yourself shot...twice." Eliot said standing at the foot of the bed.

"Yeah Eliot got that." Nate said sarcastically. "I mean with the guy?"

"We still looking." Eliot said.

"Nate we have everything covered and your only job is to make sure you get better." Sophie said as she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"We have this place secure Nate, and nobody is going to get to Parker, we won't let them." Hardison said reassuring the man that they were safe, and that Parker was taken care of.

"Ah well you seem to have everything under control then." Nate said and closed his eyes falling almost immediately asleep.

"He is out again." Eliot said.

"But he is going to be ok." Sophie said smiling down at Nate.

"Yes, so now we concentrate on the other thing." Eliot said. They had not done anything about the man who had come for Parker apart from making sure she was safe. They had all been concentrating on Nate and his condition, now things were going to change.

"Right well I have run the sketch through facial recognition but nothing. Parker has no idea who would want to kill her from her time before the team, she worked alone always and she never hurt anybody, never had any violent run-ins." Hardison reported.

"So we have no idea who this man was then." Sophie said.

"Hardison, I am going to give you a list of private guys I stole from, some of them were not very nice, maybe they decided to get their stuff back." Parker said suddenly having an idea.

"Would they know it was you stole from them."

"There are only a few that I think may."

"Well that narrows it down some." Eliot smiled at her.

"Yes but I also don't think they would come after me now, I mean the last time I stole from anybody…well you know…" She said with a mischievous grin. "Was more than three years ago."

"Ok but it is the only thing that makes sense Parker. Our jobs, the ones we do, well Nate always takes point, he always makes sure that they know it was him and keeps the heat off us, that way they will come after him and not us if there is any backlash." Eliot said.

They looked at the Hitter and then at the sleeping man, they knew it was true, in the beginning they thought it was just ego but then they realised why Nate was always there at the takedowns, always made the 'mark' know it was him and they were just his team his tools. It was to protect them even after the job was done.

"Ok so probably not one of our 'marks' but we can't completely rule them out either." Hardison said and Eliot nodded agreement, they had to cover all basis.

"Well we are secure here until we have to move when he is released." Sophie said.

"Well I doubt that will be in less than a week if not longer with his injuries." Eliot said and he was glad of that. "Hardison we are going to need a safehouse for that, not only for Parker but Nate is not going to be able to go back to his apartment, climbing stairs is going to be out for a while I think."

"Yeah man done." Hardison said.

"Good."

"When do you think they will move him out of ICU?" Parker asked.

"Don't know Parker." Eliot said. "Probably a day or two."

"Ok well I am starving, what say we all go down to the canteen for a meal?" Sophie said, they had not eaten all day and it was now early evening, Nate was safe here, they were after Parker and not him anyway and they all needed to just take a breath now that they knew the Mastermind was going to make a full recovery.

"Great idea." Hardison said he was also hungry.

After dinner they returned to Nate's room where the Mastermind remained asleep. The nurse told them that he would probably be out until the following morning. The rest of the evening was spent sitting with Nate and talking about what came next.

A day later Nate was moved into his own private room with the doctor telling them that he would be able to discharge the man if all went well by the end of the week. Nate had agreed to the safehouse options they had proposed and Hardison and Eliot took the time to make sure the place Hardison had selected was completely secure before they moved.

A week later they were all sitting in the living room of the safehouse. Nate was seated comfortably on the sofa with the rest spread around him.

"So where do we stand?" Nate asked.

"Nowhere." Eliot told him, they still had no idea who the man might have been, and no further moves had been made on Parker, they were all at a loss as to what to do next.

"Well that is not good." Nate said shaking his head. He did not like the fact that somebody was out there and was targeting his Thief.

"We are not going to find him unless he shows himself again." Parker stated looking at the Mastermind and knowing he was not going to like what she was about to suggest. "So I think maybe we should give him a chance to show himself."

"You can't be serious Parker." Sophie said realising what she was saying.

"She is right." Nate said surprising them all, especially Parker.

"What are you thinking Nate?" Eliot asked meeting his eyes and holding his gaze his eyes questioning.

"Well he was after Parker, he named her, so he is not going to do anything until he can get to her again." Nate said.

"And I can't stay in hiding forever." Parker said.

"No you can't, but Parker you will do exactly what Eliot tells you too and you will take any precautions he says do we understand each other?" Nate said.

"Or course." Parker smiled at him.

"So, what is the plan?" Eliot asked again.

"Working on it." Nate said sitting back and taking a sip of his whiskey.

He had no idea how they were going to do this, but his ultimate priority was to keep Parker safe. If this were him the man was after he would have just gone out there and exposed himself, and he knew that is what they would have to do with Parker, but he did not like it and he did not want to expose her in that way. It had now been almost three weeks since the incident and there had been no sign of anything further happening. Parker had not left the hospital during the time he was there though and had not left the safehouse since they had arrived either. She was never alone either so whoever it may have been he had had no opportunity to get to her and although Nate was happy with that he knew it could not continue like this, she could not stay in hiding forever.

A few days later it was arranged that Parker would head out to get them groceries for the house alone, well at least seemingly so. Nate and the others were all on coms and Eliot would be following her discreetly. The trip however went without incident and she returned to the house with the groceries disappointed that nobody had made a move on her.

"So now what?" Eliot asked as he took a seat and looked at Nate.

"Now I don't know Eliot." Nate said and he didn't.

"Well tomorrow you have a follow up at the hospital and then we can reassess what to do." Sophie said placing her hand on his.

She could see he was frustrated with the situation, but he was still recovering from two serious gunshot wounds that had almost taken his life, he was not sleeping well, and he was drinking, albeit not heavily, but any drink with the antibiotics rendered them useless, and as much as she was concerned about Parker, she was worried about the man. She knew they were too.

The next day they all piled into the van and headed off to the hospital for Nate's follow up. They arrived at the hospital and pulled into the parking area. Climbing out of the van they started to make their way to the entrance of the hospital when a man stepped out from behind some cars and called out Parker's name pulling a gun. Nate turned and grabbed for Sophie pulling her down out of the line of fire while Eliot moved swiftly but not swiftly enough to stop a shot from going off. He felt the bullet strike him but did not stop moving forward. The man however climbed in a car and was gone before Eliot could get to him, Eliot watched the car drive off and then turned back to the others.

"You guys ok?" He asked moving swiftly back to them as Parker helped Nate up and Hardison took Sophie's hand pulling her up from the ground.

"Fine Eliot fine." Nate said. "Let's get inside." They swiftly moved inside the hospital with Eliot hanging back and watching for any sign of more danger.

"What the hell man?" Hardison asked.

"I don't know Hardison." Nate said then looked at Sophie. "Are you ok Parker?"

"Yes." Parker replied looking down at her chest and seeing a little hole in hit. She frowned slightly sticking her hand through the hole and then looked up at Nate who was staring at her, if Eliot had not insisted on the vest, Parker would be dead he realised.

Nate then looked at his Hitter who had taken a hit to the shoulder. He ordered the man to sit and then went to call a doctor to attend to him. He also knew this would be reported and it would be the second shooting involving him and his team, that would bring more interest than they wanted from the locals.

"I'm fine Nate." Eliot said under his breath, he was thinking the same thing as Nate, that this was going to bring too much attention to them, and they needed to get themselves out of there before the local Leo's appeared. "We need to get out of here."

"Not until they have sorted you out Eliot." Nate said his voice firm. Then he pulled out his phone and dialled the number of Patrick Bonano.

After a brief conversation with the man he hung up and then sat down taking a deep breath. Somebody was most decidedly after his Thief, and he had no idea who or why and it was scaring him. He looked over at Sophie and his stomach knotted, she could have been killed today.

"I'm fine Nate." Sophie said softly putting her hand on his arm. "Now let's get you to your appointment."

Nate nodded then looked towards the ER room that Eliot had been taken into.

"We'll stay here and make sure he is ok." Hardison reassured him.

"The cops are going to make an appearance." Parker said looking around her.

"Taken care of." Nate said. Bonano had agreed to take care of any investigation into the shooting with the promise that would be over to see them later. "Hardison take care of her."

"I will Nate, nobody is getting to her." Hardison said looking at Parker. He was still shocked at how close he had come to loosing her today, the bullet that had hit her would have killed her if not for the vest Eliot had insisted on.

"Ok good well let's go, the sooner we get done here and back to the safehouse the happier I will be." Sophie said as Nate stood and they moved off towards the doctors' offices.

Three hours later they were back at the safehouse with no further incident occurring during their trip back. Nate had been told he was healing well but still had to take it extremely easy with no strenuous exercise and no stress, he had almost laughed out loud at that. The bullet that had struck Eliot had been a through and through causing no real damage to the man and he was patched up before Nate was finished with his doctor's visit.

"Bonano will be here in a short while." Nate informed them as he put the phone down after talking to the man and telling him where he could find them.

"What the hell is going on here?" Eliot said taking a seat opposite Nate.

"I don't know Eliot but whatever it is they want Parker, and I don't think they are going to stop."

"But who and why?" Sophie asked as she handed Nate a cup of coffee and then took a seat beside him.

"I don't know but I am damn well going to find out." Nate said standing up and moving to the kitchen to add some whiskey to the coffee that Sophie had made him, and she watched him her expression darkening as she did, this was not good, not good at all.

When Bonano arrived Nate gave him the full run down of what had been happening. Eliot gave him the licence plate number of the car that had carried the would-be assassin away and a description of the car and the man as well as giving him the sketch that Parker had made of the first attacker. He also handed him the bullet that Eliot had removed from Parker's vest to run ballistics on. Bonano had agreed to do what he could and then left.

The rest of the evening was spent going through old files and some of the places that Parker had robbed in her earlier career.. By ten Sophie could see that Nate was starting to fade and they all retired to their rooms agreeing to revisit everything the next morning.

"Nate you need to take care of yourself too you know." Sophie said as she walked to his room with him.

"It's not me somebody is trying to kill Sophie." He told her as he entered the bedroom.

"No it isn't but you were shot Nate and severely injured and don't tell me you are not struggling I can see it and so can they. You need to give yourself some time to recover."

"I will rest when this is over." Nate said pulling her close and giving her a long kiss. "Now I think I will get some sleep, see you in the morning." He said letting her go.

"Ok, sleep well…" She said softly, she did not want to go, she wanted to stay with him, sleep with him in his bed so that she could take care of him but could see that he did not want that. They had an open relationship now after the others had made it clear they knew that something was going on between them, but it was not at the level of living together or even a relationship if the man was to be believed, he didn't want that, and she was willing to wait until he did.

Eliot and the others remained in the living room going through files after the two had left.

"We'll find who's doing this Parker we will." Hardison said softly to her as he watched her go through the files and seeing her frustration building as she found nothing to help them in their search.

Parker looked at him but said nothing then continued going through the files again. Eliot watched her and shook his head. She was nearly bursting with frustration and anger at herself, Nate had been shot and now so had he and he could see all the woman wanted to do was run, to remove herself from them to protect them but the knowledge that Nate might do something completely insane to get her back prevented her from doing that.

"I think we should also get some rest." He finally said after another two hours of fruitless reading.

"Not tired." Parker said without looking up.

Eliot looked at her and then Hardison who he could see was not going anywhere if she were not and then he sighed and sat down again picking up another file. They continued until Parker had passed out on the floor and Hardison sat sleeping on the chair. Eliot covered them both with light blankets then after doing a quick sweep of the house and checking on Nate he returned to the room and switched off the lights before taking his place on the sofa and closing his eyes.